One of the more controversial subplots of Rutgers' wave of
decommitments was the belief that coach Kyle Flood pulled scholarship offers
from commits who wanted to visit other schools. Flood said that's not entirely
true.

"I think the story has been kind of relayed incorrectly, and
I haven't really spoke on it, but people said, 'Did you pull a scholarship
offer?' " Flood said at a press conference to introduce the 2014 recruiting
class on Wednesday afternoon. "I didn't pull any scholarship offers."

There's a bit of semantics involved, however. While Flood
said he didn't pull the scholarships of recruits who wanted to visit other
schools, he didn't hold their scholarships either.

"When a player commits to us, we take a scholarship and we
put it aside," Flood said. "When that player decides to visit other places,
well, then we have to look at other players. So at that point it's back in
play."

Each of the players said they got the impression from the
Rutgers coaching staff that visiting other schools was frowned upon.

"I called Coach Flood, and the way the conversation went,
they basically closed the door," Hester told NJ.com after he decommitted in
November. "That's the way it sounded to me. That's how the conversation
basically ended. He was just like, 'There is nothing left to say.' And that was
the end of the conversation."

Flood said he had no choice but to look elsewhere when commits
decided to visit other schools.

"I don't know how it could work any other way," Flood said. "And
as I've told many a recruit, some day when you get engaged to who may be your
future wife, if you give her a ring and say, 'Hey, listen, I would love to
marry you in a year but, don't worry, I'll date a few other girls along the
way,' I'm not so sure that would go over so well."